Render unto Caesar his silver coin when he wants it back in the form of taxes. But never render your sacred soul unto Caesar. Your soul is reserved for bearing the divine image of Christ, not the beastly image of Caesar. Jesus Christ is the icon of God, and we are called to become icons of Christ.

When the multitude wanted to make him king

Put a crown upon his head

Why did he slip away to a quiet place instead?

–Bob Dylan, “In the Garden”

Paul's great yearning is to know Christ. Of course, Paul knows Christ. He met him on the Damascus Road. He preached him for thirty years. But the holy yearning remains. To know Christ is to know the infinite God, and so the yearning is infinite.

What does the story of Absalom have to do with Jesus and the cross? In this sermon we explore the striking parallels between two sons of David who reveal two radically different ways of becoming king. Discover how humility, self-giving love, and obedience bring a kingdom unlike any kingdom of this world.

What happens when we receive God’s mercy but struggle to extend that same mercy to others? The story of Jonah shows how easily disappointment and bitterness can keep us stuck in our own perspective. But the mercy of God meets us in the belly of the whale and invites us to lay down our bitterness and become the embodiment of the mercy of God to others.

No Man Is an Island

No man is an island,

Entire of itself;

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

Any man’s death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

–John Donne (1571–1631), English poet and priest

"Love alone is credible; nothing else can be believed, and nothing else ought to be believed." –Hans Urs von Balthasar

COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?)

U2

"Am I the best or the worst or the worst of the best?" she sang

Ice cream smile wide as a mile back then

"Say a nice prayer, be a good girl, finger on my lips"

When she returned her lipstick had learned how not to kiss

I can't fix her, can only love her

Can't keep her pocket full

I can't keep her face in smiles

Someone's stolen what was beautiful

I can't sing her home to me in rhymes

But I will bless the Lord at all times

Bless the Lord at all times

I will bless the Lord at all times

I will bless

I will bless the Lord at all times

I will bless the Lord

I will bless the Lord at all times

Every night we hope and pray for a new day to rise

Every morning when the sun shows up it's still a surprise

Any child is every child in any mother's eyes

I will bless the Lord

I will bless the Lord at all times

I will bless the Lord at all times

I will bless the Lord

I will bless the Lord at all times

That child you hear has been crying for years in the wilderness

A child without armour had no hatred to harbour, only loveliness

The driver of the ambulance unpacks his shirt pressed and neat

To honour the hurt and the hungry he will later greet

There's not so much road left here and no road signs

Drones hover without any consciousness over war crimes

I will bless the Lord at all times?

The tide is rising, all ships are sinking

New poets must despise all old ways of thinking

Whoever made language must've been drinking

Twenty-six characters own all the ink and printing

I got so many words in my head but I can't find the lines

I will bless the Lord at all times

Changes, these changes

Will rain on this parade

Changes, these changes

I am not afraid

No one there to write it down

But when the prophet came around

Said "I've a stranger with me

In the fight none can compare

But food and shelter we share

Beloved community"

Every night we hope and pray for a new day to rise

Every morning when the sun shows up, it's still a surprise

Any child is every child in any mother's eyes

I will bless the Lord

I will bless the Lord at all times

I will bless the Lord at all times

I will bless the Lord

I will bless the Lord at all times

Changes, these changes

Will rain on this parade

Changes, these changes

I am not afraid

The pages that enrage us

She tears them from the book

"Save us, save us" sings the girl of Guadalupe